Yankees Loosen Facial Hair Rules, Opening Door for More Free Agents

The Yankees have altered its long-running and oft-debated facial hair policy, a move that could make the MLB club even more in demand among top free agents.

Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner announced early Friday that after “great consideration” and many conversations with current and former Yankees players, the team will now allow “well-groomed beards.” Before the shift, Yankees players were required to either be clean-shaven or just have mustaches. 

“It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy,” Steinbrenner said.

That policy, initially created in the 1970s by Hal’s late father and former Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, has long been a flash point within the league, with incoming stars such as Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Jason Giambi, and Johnny Damon all being forced to shave beards they previously and famously wore. Newly acquired star reliever Devin Williams was among those also expressing discomfort with the prior policy, which had among the strictest of its type anywhere in North American pro sports.

Other star players over the years, such as pitcher David Price, have shunned the Yankees, in part because of the prior facial hair policy. It additionally had become part of baseball lore for many players to quickly sport beards after leaving the Yankees—a trend most recently surfacing with infielder Gleyber Torres, now with the Tigers, and pitcher Clay Holmes, now with the Mets.

Compared to other MLB teams, the Yankees’ stance had increasingly been seen as anachronistic, and other stars such as outfielder Andrew McCutchen said it “takes away from our individualism.”